Regulating Corporate Behaviour through Collective Claims in the EU and US

Through the expert assessment of the US federal courts’ case on competition law, alongside that of domestic Europe, Arianna Andreangeli provides a fresh response to the issues surrounding collective litigation. The discussion is skillfully placed in the wider context of competition enforcement, whilst at the same time exploring both past and present trends. The book concludes that collective litigation of competition claims must strike a “fair balance” between respecting rules of due process and ensuring fuller access to justice.

Chapter 5: Collective litigation in competition cases in the United Kingdom: between personal “autonomy” in civil litigation and effective judicial protection

Monograph Chapter

Extract

The previous chapter outlined the current state of play regarding the debate on future prospects for and possible proposals related to the introduction of collective redress mechanisms in the EU. It was argued that, due to the lack of political support for the introduction of “special” forms of group litigation in the field of competition law, the Commission in 2011 chose to shift its focus regarding the discussion and elaboration in this area to the more “mainstream” field of tort law, taken as a whole. In addition, as was made clear in the 2011 Consultation, there was a decided move from addressing these issues just as a matter for “collective litigation” to a problem of restoration of harm: in this context, it was emphasized how telling the Commission’s use of the term “collective redress” was, since it showed a clear commitment to providing relief for harm to members of a group in whatever form was the most effective. However, in doing so it did not show any propensity to entertain a wide, principled and realistic discussion of the full range of remedies potentially available in this area. The goal of the present chapter will be to analyse the current discipline of collective actions in the field of competition law existing in England and Wales.

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